2008 American League Division Series

From SoSH

1 Overview
2 Schedule
3 Boxscores
4 Trivia
5 External Links

Overview

The 2008 American League Division Series pitted the American League Wild Card Boston Red Sox (95-67) versus the AL West Champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (100-62). After taking the first 2 games in Los Angeles the Red Sox won the series in 4 games, by a score of 3-1.

Managers: Terry Francona (Boston) & Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles)
Venues: Fenway Park (Boston) & Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Los Angeles)

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Schedule

Game 1: Wednesday, October 1st 10:00 PM at Angel Stadium of Anaheim
- Pitching Matchup: Lester v. Lackey
Game 2: Friday, October 3rd 9:30 PM at Angel Stadium of Anaheim
- Pitching Matchup: Matsuzaka v. Santana
Game 3: Sunday, October 5th 7:17 at Fenway Park
- Pitching Matchup: Saunders v. Beckett
Game 4: Monday, October 6th 8:37 PM at Fenway Park
- Pitching Matchup: Lester v. Lackey

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Boxscores

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Game 1: October 1, 2008 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim

Jon Lester got the Game 1 assignment after Josh Beckett was pushed back to Game 3 because of an oblique problem. He retired his final seven batters, striking out four, and only one outfielder had a putout during his stint. Lester struck out seven and walked one.

Jason Bay hit a two-out, two-run homer off Los Angeles ace John Lackey in the sixth inning, and the Red Sox beat the Angels 4-1 Wednesday night in the opener of their first-round AL playoff series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	4	8	1
Los Angeles Angels	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	1
W: Jon Lester (1-0) L: John Lackey (0-1) S: [[Jonathan Papelbon (1)
HR: BOS: Jason Bay (1) LAA: None

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Game 2: October 3, 2008 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim

JD Drew stunned Francisco Rodriguez with a two-run homer in the ninth inning, and the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-5 on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in their first-round AL playoff series. Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up three runs and eight hits in five innings, throwing 108 pitches.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	4	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	2	7	14	0
Los Angeles Angels	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	5	11	2
W: Jonathan Papelbon (1-0) L: Francisco Rodriguez (0-1) S: None
HR: BOS: Jason Bay (2), JD Drew (1) LAA: None

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Game 3: October 5, 2008 at Fenway Park

Mike Napoli hit two early homers off Josh Beckett, then singled and scored the go-ahead run in the 12th to help Los Angeles stave off elimination and snap an 11-game postseason losing streak against Boston.

In all, Beckett was charged with four runs on nine hits and four walks, striking out six in five innings. The fiery right-hander, who shut out the Angels in Game 1 of last year's first-round sweep, saw his postseason ERA balloon to 2.09 from 1.73, which had been the third-best in baseball history (minimum 40 innings).

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Los Angeles Angels	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	16	0
Boston Red Sox	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	7	0
W: Jered Weaver (1-0) L: Javy Lopez (0-1) S: None
HR: LAA: Mike Napoli 2 (2) BOS: None

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Game 4: October 6, 2008 at Fenway Park

Jason Bay scored with a headfirst slide on Jed Lowrie's two-out single in the ninth inning and the defending World Series champions took advantage of a botched suicide squeeze, beating Los Angeles 3-2 Monday night to win their first-round playoff series in four games.

Jon Lester held the Angels to four hits in seven shutout innings but lost his chance at a second victory in the series when they scored twice in the eighth to tie it 2-all.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Los Angeles Angels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	1
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	9	0
W: Manny Delcarmen (1-0) L: Scott Shields (0-1) S: None
HR: LAA: None BOS: None

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Trivia

The Red Sox' win in Game Two was their 11th straight playoff win against the Angels (dating back to the 1986 ALCS), a record streak for one team against another in the post-season.

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